Afghan riots over Gitmo Koran desecration continue; 3 more dead News
Afghan riots over Gitmo Koran desecration continue; 3 more dead

[JURIST] Riots in eastern Afghanistan [JURIST report] triggered by recent Newsweek-published reports of American desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo continued and spread Thursday, resulting in three more deaths [AFP report]. Rioting has now hit 10 Afghan provinces, including the capital Kabul, and has killed a total of 7 people while injuring 76 others. The US military has launched an investigation into the desecration reports [US Southern Command press release, PDF]; a US State Department [official website] spokesman stressed Wednesday in a press briefing [transcript] that "[d]esecration of religious texts and objects is repugnant to common values and an anathema to the American people." VOA has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.